Seminar to make roads safer

Sticking reflective tapes on all commercial vehicles, making fog lamps compulsory and increasing fines for traffic violations were some of the suggestions discussed at a seminar on road safety here Saturday.

Organised by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the International Road Federation (IRF), the event focused particularly on "road safety during dark hours" and explored ways to curb the high rate of accidents.

"Most of the accidents during dark hours are attributed to lack of adequately illuminated roads, drunken driving, poor road engineering and driving at high speeds among other reasons," K.K.Kapila, chairman, IRF said.

According to IRF, over 1.4 lakh accidents take place in the country annually of which 30 percent occur at night.

Talking specifically about Delhi, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Anil Shukla said there was a need to rein in commercial vehicles, especially trucks that enter the city every night.

"Every night 45,000 trucks enter Delhi of which 25,000 are overloaded. Apart from causing major gridlocks at the city's borders, these vehicles don't have the necessary safety equipment installed on them which can save lives in case of an accident," Shukla said.

"Many commercial drivers are colour blind and many aged drivers suffer from cataract," the joint commissioner said adding that 17,200 commercial vehicles have been impounded till Aug 31 this year.

In order to reduce the accident count, Shukla said that all trucks must have underrun protection devices on all sides in addition to reflective tapes and mirrors on the sides and in front, respectively, to tackle blind spots.